The Somali government has decided to ban four types of Antonov airplanes from flying in the Somali airspace due to the safety reasons.

The Somali Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) says that the models including the AN-24, AN-26, AN-32 and AN-12 will not be allowed to fly in Somali airspace after 15th March.

As per the officials, there have been no accidents involved the Soviet-era planes, but there have been “near misses.”

A letter was originally given to airline operators from the SCAA until February 28 to cease flights.

According to the deputy manager of SCAA, Jama Ahmed Muse, this deadline has been extended until March 15.

It is cleared in the letter that Antonovs do not have the approved maintenance centers in the East Africa region, where they can be repaired. Instead, the mechanics used to repair these planes in the airport. The letter also says that these planes lack an air traffic collision avoidance system, and that their noise certification is “unacceptable.”

“We have given [operators] until March 15, until we finish our investigation,” said Muse. “If they don’t meet the standard, we told them they will not have the permission.”

“Everybody is aware of the situation and they will have replacement planes in place. Some operators have already replaced their aircraft,” the official said.

According to Muse, the order will affect a small number of planes, which are charted by humanitarian organizations and the African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to ferry cargo.

An AN-12, one of the planes, already left the country and returned to Ukraine, its registered country, said Muse.

Somalia, however, has fully took over the control of its airspace in December 2017 and transferred air traffic control from Nairobi. It has been operated there by the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization since the early 1990s Somali civil war.

As per the officials, there are about 250 flights which cross over Somali airspace each day, excluding arrivals and departures. Also, travelers have been increased in number to and from Somalia in recent years. The Mogadishu airport alone has seen a half million travelers in 2017.